# Learn Ukulele — Folk exercises

> Interactive page: [`exercises-folk.html`](exercises-folk.html) · Hub: [`exercises.md`](exercises.md) · Matching drills: [`drills-folk.md`](drills-folk.md)

Thumb boom on the beat, strum or fingers on the offs. The boom should be a little louder than the strum — that contrast is the sound of the style. On high-G uke, “bass” means that thumb pulse (often a root on G or C), not that the G string is low; **C is the lowest pitch**. These are longer gym reps; the short wake-ups live on [Folk drills](drills-folk.md).

**Technique path:** [Drills](drills.md) · [Exercises](exercises.md) · this page.

**Sources (two-check):** Hal Leonard Ukulele Method Book 1 (bass-strum, open-chord changes) · Berklee-style locking the picking hand to a click while chords change.

On the HTML page, Play becomes Stop on the same button. Tempo follows the metronome.

## Suggested order

1. Boom-chick on G
2. Alternating bass
3. Waltz 3/4
4. Travis seed
5. Boom under G–C–D
6. Folk pulse variants — same family, other chords

### Three tracks

- **Beginner** — boom-chick on G only. Capo off. Stay near 60.
- **Intermediate** — alternating bass. G–C–D under boom-chick. Waltz bass-chick-chick.
- **Advanced** — Travis seed on several chords. Then deepen on [Folk drills](drills-folk.md).

## Folk pulse

### Boom-chick on G

Beat 1 bass, 2 strum, 3 bass, 4 strum. Hold G.

```
    1     2     3     4
A|-------2-----------2--
E|-------3-----------3--
C|-------2-----------2--
G|-0-----------0--------
```

### Alternating bass on G

Beat 3 takes the C-string D (fifth) instead of the root.

```
A|-----------------
E|-----------------
C|---------2-------   fifth (D) on beat 3
G|-0---------------   root
```

### Waltz 3/4

Bass on 1 only; chick on 2 and 3.

```
    1     2     3
A|-------2-----2--
E|-------3-----3--
C|-------2-----2--
G|-0--------------
```

### Travis seed

Thumb on the bass; index and middle on the offs.

```
A|--------2-----2--   m
E|-----3-----3-----   i
C|-----------------
G|-0-------0-------   p
```

### Boom under G–C–D

One bar each with boom-chick running underneath. G[0,2,3,2] · C[0,0,0,3] · D[2,2,2,0].

```
G                 C                 D
A|--2-----------------3-----------------0--
E|--3-----------------0-----------------2--
C|--2-----------------0-----------------2--
G|--0-----------------0-----------------2--
```

Do not stop the right hand to make the chord change. Hands-together version: [Exercises · boom-chick through a change](exercises.md).

### Folk pulse variants

On the HTML page: chord (G / C / D / Em / Am) × pattern (boom-chick / alternating bass / waltz / Travis).

## Practice note

8–10 minutes. Two on boom-chick, four on G–C–D, two on Travis or waltz. Then [Folk drills](drills-folk.md) (capo, walk-downs, lok 6/8, first pieces).